just throwing my hat in the ring as a volunteer to test, happy to do so & can do some comparisons for you etc

tommy wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:46 am

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:40 am

tommy wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:33 am 48v on front

On the front specifically? On the proto its on the back but I suppose it could go anywhere.

Desktop style it doesn’t really matter. In a rack unit it makes things easier when you’re mic swapping and your rack has several things in it and it’s maybe hard to get to it in the back. I curse my audio interface periodically for putting it on the back…

Oh right, i'd def figure on that. In a rack version I feel like just power and in/out should be on the back.

I'm also happy to test/post examples or comparisons.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 10:22 am

tommy wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:46 am

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:40 am

On the front specifically? On the proto its on the back but I suppose it could go anywhere.

Desktop style it doesn’t really matter. In a rack unit it makes things easier when you’re mic swapping and your rack has several things in it and it’s maybe hard to get to it in the back. I curse my audio interface periodically for putting it on the back…

Oh right, i'd def figure on that. In a rack version I feel like just power and in/out should be on the back.

The power cord typically is in back, but the switch for on/off should be as accessible as possible.

Hi-z and polarity switch is a great idea. They seem like common features on nice preamps.

Just throwing this out there, but… high pass filter? I use them on my pres. But I don’t know what combination of features adds up to being real estate compromises/ too big of a pain in the ass in the end

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:14 am

Looks great! Did you order a sowter input transformer?
In a 19“ design I would place the in– and output connectors on the back panel too. The hi–Z input probably on the front.
An LED indicating on/off on the phantom power and polarity switches would be fancy!

Oh and maybe a master volume right before the output might be a nice feature. Wouldn’t that allow you to drive the tubes into saturation and then reduce the output level accordingly?

bassdriver wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 12:25 pm Oh and maybe a master volume right before the output might be a nice feature. Wouldn’t that allow you to drive the tubes into saturation and then reduce the output level accordingly?

ooh now we're talking

bassdriver wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 12:25 pm Oh and maybe a master volume right before the output might be a nice feature. Wouldn’t that allow you to drive the tubes into saturation and then reduce the output level accordingly?

Yeah, I have a master volume on my Gyraf G9 clone and being able to drive the tubes hard is where the fun is.

tommy wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2023 9:33 am That looks fantastic!

I second the suggestions of: polarity switch, hiZ input, 48v on front, and two in one rack.

Get weird, add a full band tilt eq centered at around 1K. Always wanted something like that in a preamp. I have no idea how to make that, but it would be mega cool even if it had like a +_3dB variation. Kinda a bright/dark knob.